


Frostbit

by genderneutralnoun



Series: Assorted Lucirobin Stuff [15]
Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Angst, Dark Magic, F/F, Intrusive Thoughts, Mental Illness, PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, So much angst, Trauma, War Crimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 18:38:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14478774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genderneutralnoun/pseuds/genderneutralnoun
Summary: When a skirmish ends with disastrous results, Lucina and Robin are marooned away from the rest of the army, one of them in dire condition.





	Frostbit

Consciousness came to Lucina like an idea, a nonchalant suggestion. As if it were a cat, her mental self batted at it curiously, making it buck and waver a little further away. Briefly, she considered leaving it be; then, with a feeling similar to shrugging, simply crouching and leaping for it.

Then she came awake all at once, a gasp on her lips the moment she opened her eyes as consciousness brought recollection with it. The princess scrambled to her feet, stumbling in the uneven, dusty ground, then breathed out a sigh of relief as she caught sight of Robin.

Worry came to replace it almost immediately. The tactician, looking even more tiny and fragile than she usually did to the protective bluette, was tightly balled up against a palm tree trunk, arms hugging her legs, her hood up and cloak edges pulled as close to her as possible.

_ Oh, no, no, no, no, _ Lucina thought, the only coherent words in the whirl of fear and distress that was her mind.  _ That won't help, she was hit with a Soulfreeze incantation, how did they even get those in this time, the cold is coming from her body, thick clothes will only hurt, she needs to get out in the sun! _

Awareness of her actions was a luxury now; senses were disregarded in the blind panic she threw herself into. She dropped to her knees in front of the smaller girl, crawling forward a bit, whispering urgently. “Robin. Robin, baby, wake up. Please.”

The blonde’s eyelids fluttered. “L-Luci?” she asked weakly, the glazed light in her eyes telling Lucina right away what she needed, and hated, to know- that her love was overwhelmed, so completely overloaded that every scrap of careful construction of her tedious methods was washed away.  _ She's not going to heal from this in a long, long time. If we even get home at all.  _ “W-what's… h-happening to m-me?”

A great sob welled itself up in her chest, and it took all her strength to hold it back. “You're fine,” Lucina lied. “You're gonna be okay. Now, I need you to do what I tell you, to the best of your ability, okay? And tell me right away if anything hurts.”

A shaky nod. “I-I trust you,” she answered, her voice barely more than a whisper.

“Okay. Okay.” Lucina took a deep breath, trying to stem the flood of panic as some semblance of rational thought returned to her. “I'm gonna pick you up. I'll need to take off your cloak, first, and maybe your breeches. I know you feel cold, but trapping body heat won't work- your body's giving off cold, you need to get into the sun.”

She was rambling, she knew she was, but Robin never seemed to mind when she got like this. Unfortunately, as Lucina babbled, she saw the same, glassy look come into the tactician’s eyes, that proved she was too tired to even process what the bluette was saying. With a renewed vigor, Lucina pulled Robin out of the shade, puffing out a surprised gasp as the fierce midday sun hit her in full force. She laid the tactician back down on the dry earth, then began to struggle with getting Robin’s cloak off. The smaller girl helped a little, weakly raising her arm or pulling it from her sleeve, but Lucina had to prop her up in order to pull the cloak out from under her.pull it off completely. When she did, Robin made as if to wrap her arms around herself, but Lucina stopped her with a shake of her head. 

“It would do good to take off your breeches,” Lucina murmured. “If you don’t- I mean, if you’d feel-”

“It’s fine, i-if it’ll help.” Robin stopped in the middle of her statement to shiver violently, sniffling a little. “Besides, you’re t-the only other one out h-here. I-I have spare clothes in m-my bag,” she added when Lucina blushed at her last comment. 

The princess nodded awkwardly, scrambling over to where the tactician had dropped her bag after she fell. She took the chance to see what else they had as far as supplies, and cursed quietly when she saw that whoever (or  _ what _ ever) knocked her out had looted most of the useful contents, leaving only Robin’s glasses, a single roll of cloth binding in the hidden pocket, the clothes, and a small, frayed book that she merely glanced at before putting back. Whatever writings the blonde kept with her were none of her business. 

Lucina ended up dropping everything back into the bag and just bringing it over to Robin, setting it down with a sigh and moving in to feel her lover’s skin. She couldn't help shivering as she laid her palm on her forehead; if she remembered correctly, the outermost layer of skin was enchanted to stay at temperatures below freezing on most of her body, excluding the front of the chest and stomach, between the legs, and most of the head. It wouldn’t  _ kill _ a healthy person, but the process was, from what Lucina understood, a living hell, and it would render them very weak and likely crippled for the rest of their life. And, worst of all, Robin was tiny; the princess already knew she didn’t have the best immune system, and lack of body mass meant it would be harder for her to retain heat. 

As she pulled down Robin’s breeches and put the softer, cloth work shorts on, Lucina tried to think of other things. In the future- no, in  _ her  _ future, that outcome would never come to this world- she had seen several cases of the spell being used, and due to its severity, she made sure she was familiar with it. The first time was early in the war, when her father was still alive. A Grimleal mage shot down one of the kingdom’s best solo archers with the spell, and due to lack of knowledge, did not survive; but the death meant mages could study the spell’s remnants and determine the exact effect. Thanks to that, a few victims survived; slightly more than half of the total victims, if she remembered correctly. None of them, however, ever returned to fighting form.

_ Only one of the horrid spells invented by the Grimleal in the war, _ Lucina remembered with a shudder. When she was not issuing orders or fighting, her social awkwardness meant she spent the rest of her time desperately studying whatever she could on the ancient, long-banished dark arts that were now used without restriction or finding out what she could from the royal mages of the new, unknown curses that had been invented. 

Unbidden, the images played themselves back in her mind- horrors described in cold detail on yellowed pages in the dead of night, and worse, the times she had seen those horrors play out before her eyes. There were spells that could make all the major veins in a person’s body explode- or, if the caster so wished,  _ im _ plode. 

Lucina had to stop for a moment to calm herself, forcing the dark thoughts away. She didn’t have the time right now to allow herself to slip into despair, with Robin how she was; the younger woman was her responsibility now,  **_just like everyone else she’d let slip through her fingers,_ ** and Lucina knew she’d never forgive herself if Robin- if she- if she couldn’t save her while she was taking care of her.

Robin whimpered slightly, jarring Lucina out of her thoughts. “What’s wrong, baby?” the princess said softly as she leaned in closer, her brow creased worriedly. “Are you still cold?”

The tactician nodded weakly. Lucina pursed her lips briefly, then shifted, laying down next to her and moving her limbs in a nonverbal offer to hold her. 

Robin moved into her arms awkwardly, instinctively going to curl up into what Lucina would affectionately call “the bird ball” as a play on her name, referring to how robins in wintertime would puff up their feathers to keep warm. As that method would have the opposite effect in this situation, she ended up clinging to Lucina, trying to get as much warmth as she could. 

The princess bit her lip and hugged Robin tighter, the chilling cold and familiar scent contrasting oddly. The tactician buried her face in Lucina’s chest, and Lucina buried hers in Robin’s hair; she smelled warm and earthy, like usual, but with the hint of a sharper, whiter scent that seemed to signify her distress. 

Lucina closed her eyes. All she could do now was wait.


End file.
